Winners and Losers

I’m facing a difficult time period in my orchard of deciding which varieties of fruit I want to keep and which to eliminate. This is a difficult task but necessary. My biggest problem is not knowing when to let go. One of the things I’m learning is that not all fruit grows equally well in all locations . Another factor is how much care you want to give to a variety. Any input from others is welcome.

Keepers for me
-Muscadines almost all varieties do well in my location
-Pears: Kieffer, Orient (I have several others too early to determine)
-Apples: Yates, Red Rebel, Mollie, Unknown Gold, and pretty certain Goldrush (I have several others too early to determine)
-Plums and Pluots: Rubrum, Chickasaws, (I have several others too early to determine)

Remove/Unsure
-Apple: Honeycrisp, Stripped June
-Grapes: Mars

Edit: My zone is 7b

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I haven’t completely remove the honeycrisp but I did reduce the space allowed.

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Thank you for your list. I find it helpful because I live in a climate similar to yours. I think it might be even more helpful to include a few words of explanation so we can understand why? For example, I was looking at purchasing a Mars grape. If the problem was that they required too much spraying, that might be something I could deal with if I really wanted the grape. If the problem was that despite spraying, it still rotted, then I would know not to try them.

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Bill,

Honey Crisp does not do well in warmer weather, has a tendency to go biennial and I have also heard that it is not easy to keep in storage. (not to mention leaf yellowing issue)

HC is a popular apples. I have eaten very good ones bought from local supermarkets. So, if it’s is difficult for you, you should remove it. You can buy them in stores. If it’s were such a good apple that was hard to find, I might be more hesitant to remove it. .

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I’ve decided that after this season, I’m not going to spray anything. What thrives stays, and what doesn’t gets taken out. They only thing I’ll keep and spray are the peach trees because my wife likes those. From this point forward it’s survival of the fittest!

As far as HoneyCrisp, it was the first apple tree that I planted. Some say it doesn’t grow well in our warm and humid weather, but mine has grown very well, with good form. As for the fruit, it produced fruit for the last two or three years, but nothing at all this year. Can’t say how the apples taste as animals always eat them before I do. The critters will ignore all the other apple trees and go for the HC instead. So, they must be pretty good apples. The only other issues are some CAR and Japanese beetle damage.

As I mentioned in another thread, I’ll probably end up replacing my table grapes with muscadines.

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On my rootstock (unknown), HC is biennial even with good fruit thinning.

If Bill needs space for other fruit trees or other apple varieties, he can graft it over and may leave a branch of HC.

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Great idea to list reasons for decision. When I added Mars I though it would be as easy to grow as muscadines but it wasn’t. I feel pretty good in saying that if you follow other successful spraying programs you could do well with it. It required more attention than I was willing to give it. I also like the table type muscadine taste better such as Black Beauty and Supreme.

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I really think my warm weather offering too few chill hours is the primary issue I have with Honeycrisp. It is a great apple but I also like others as well. I kept one smaller limb on my frankentree just to see if it will eventually give me an apple. The limb I left is on a strong standard root so lack of vigor most likely isn’t the problem.

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Then, when it finally produces, it may Go biennial. What a pain.

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In Tennessee you might get all the chill hours you need so it looks like it works for you which is great.

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That is my plans. I still would like to pick one from my tree.

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Hey Bill- chill hours probably not your problem.

@applenut successfully fruits Honeycrisp in southern California.

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If it makes you feel any better, my third-leaf Honeycrisp failed to fruit again this year. Not sure what it’s waiting for. It’s about 9 feet tall on G.41 rootstock. I keep saying “next year”…

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My honeycrisp is 4 years in the ground on m111. It fruited last year, and again this year. I keep it well pruned 7 to 8 feet tall and very open for light penetration, in fact it’s open center. They are coloring up now. We don’t get the prettiest honeycrisp here but the flavor is good.

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I guess everybody likes different things and I’m certainly not one to knock tastes but The fascination with Honeycrisp still surprises me, I can get them at the store and as far as I know they’re pretty good, but even if you like sweet I would take a golden Russet or a Macoun over an entire bushel of Honeycrisp . Maybe it’s because I can get them at the store, and I tend to focus my efforts on things that I either can’t or that are way better at home (think homegrown tomatoes) or at least reliable like liberty … again I’m not knocking anyone else’s ideas, it’s just really surprised me . Maybe even though I found Honeycrisp OK I’ve just never had a really good one?

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My Honeycrisp on M-111 are also 4 years in the ground and fruited pretty heavily. My Honeycrisp on standard Antonovka rootstock have been in the ground for 7 years and little to no fruit. My advice to people is DO NOT plant apple trees on standard rootstock unless you specifically want a large standard size tree. They take way too long to produce.

As far as removal…I am removing a few of my McIntosh on Antonovka because they just are not growing well. They have scale which has limited their growth and they just do not look like healthy trees. I love McIntosh and so do potential customers in this area…but they are so susceptible to scab that I am now looking for a more resistant variety for replacements. I will NEVER plant a standard sized apple tree again!

Cortland have done better on Antonovka but also have similar but lesser problems with scab. I know that I must improve my spray schedule in the future if I want a good apple crop but boy it is a struggle to find the time AND acceptable weather windows to spray.

Anyone have any suggestions for Mid-Late apple varieties that thrive in Zone 4/5 areas?

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Haha, by observation, some people on this forum are more ‘growers’, some are more ‘eaters’ and we all are likely a combo of both. :blush:
Growers grow things because maybe they haven’t grown it before, or, they like to see how things grow and they also enjoy caring for things. The effort put into growing things is not always considered a negative. Challenging things are more fun for these people to grow, just 'cause. You know who you are, LOL. (I would say I’m 80% grower, 20% eater)
Eaters seem more practical, demanding results from their efforts - good results, or else. And maybe 'growing it just ‘cause’ doesn’t make sense, LOL.

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You make some point about how we grow fruit. I’m not sure where I fall exactly but I have limits on my effort and what I need to do to control pest. We certainly all have different opinions in which I like. I like the differences and suggestions I’m seeing posted.

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Another keeper for me is the Carolina Red June. It has a pretty good tart/sweet taste for an early apple. Some of my newer additions might replace it such as Pristine or Williams Pride.

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I grafted over Goodland, Parkland and Patterson. Most of you will not be familiar with these varieties but they are touted as very hardy good apples for our area. After fruiting Sweet 16 and Honey Gold for the last two years, with Discovery, Winoochee Early, and MacMahon white each fruiting once, I have been spoiled, and my standards for apples moved from “very hardy”, to “happy to get very good fruit some of the time”.

Now the Nankings are going under the knife and I have some very healthy greengage and waneta plum scions on their second leaf.

As for being a grower or eater? I think I fall on the side of grower with a little bit of experimenter thrown in. I am not sure if this is because I am a sceptic or stubborn. I like to know for myself if a variety will grow here, sometime the literature seems to err on the side of caution when zone rating.

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